Decorated marine researcher Craig Carlson has been appointed the new president and chief executive of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.

A statement said Dr Carlson will succeed president and chief executive William Curry this year.

Dr Carlson was a visiting researcher at Bios in the 1980s and served as institute faculty from 1996 until he became a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara’s department of ecology, evolution and marine biology in 2001.

Peter Schlosser, vice-president and vice-provost of Arizona State University’s Global Futures Laboratory, which incorporates Bios, explained: “Throughout his career, Dr Carlson has demonstrated vision and leadership in advancing ocean sciences.

“As director of ASU Bios, he will build on this experience to position the institute and the Global Futures Laboratory as a whole to be leading voices in shaping the future of ocean sciences with a focus on the oceans' role in a world under increasing pressure due to human overexploitation of the life-supporting systems of our planet.”

Dr Carlson said: “ASU’s School of Ocean Futures and Bios’s collaborative teams embrace real-time adaptive strategies to tackle critical challenges in marine science, an approach that leads to discoveries and solutions.

“ASU Bios’s track record shows the power of collaboration in advancing our understanding of diverse marine environments, from inshore waters and coral reefs to the open ocean, and I am eager to join and contribute to its mission.”

Dr Curry, who has led Bios since 2012, explained: “Not only has [Dr Carlson] earned the highest respect of his peers for his scholarship and collegiality, he has also been successful in leading diverse scientific teams addressing complex, interdisciplinary research questions — just the right combination of skills to lead Bios.”

Dr Carlson, who is married to Bermudian Alison Capstick Carlson, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Colby College in Maine and a PhD in marine microbial ecology from the University of Maryland’s Horn Point Laboratory.

He has been honoured by organisations including the American Geophysical Union and the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography for his research, which incorporates marine microbiology and biogeochemistry.